2019 (Half Year) Germany: Best-Selling Car Brands and Models

Volkswagen, Mercedes and Audi remained Germany’s top-selling car brands during the first six months of 2019. The VW Golf was the favorite car model.

During the first semester of 2019, Volkswagen lost market share but remained by far the largest carmaker in Germany. VW was followed by Mercedes-Benz and Audi – both also had slightly weaker sales in a flat market. In contrast, Ford and BMW gained market share with stronger car sales in Germany in 2019.

German New Car Market in 2019 (First Semester)

New passenger vehicle (PKW) registrations during the first six months of 2019 in Germany increased by a weak 0.5% to 1,849,000 cars. Although only 10,000 more cars than at the start of 2018, the German car market had its strongest first semester for a decade.

The total German new motorized vehicle (Kraftfahrzeuge) market expanded by 2.2% to 2,194,459 vehicles during the first semester of 2019. Heavy commercial vehicle (LKW) sales increased by 13.7% while trailer trucks (Zugmaschinen) increased by 18%.

Petrol was again the most-popular fuel type for new cars in Germany with a 59.4% market share (-5.4%) while diesel sales were up 3% for 32.9% market share.

During the first six months of 2019, electric car registrations in Germany increased by 80% to 31,059 electric passenger vehicles for a 1.7% market share. Hybrid car sales increased by 69% to 102,995 cars or a 5.6% market share – these numbers include 16,525 plug-in hybrids – 0.9% fewer than during the first semester of 2018.

Best-Selling Car Brands in Germany in 2019 (Half Year)

According to new passenger vehicle registration data released by the KBA, the following were the top-selling car marques in Germany during the period January to June 2019:

	Brand	Jan – Jun 2019	Jan – June 2018	% Share	% Change 18/19
	Total German Market	1,849,000	1,839,031	100.0	0.5
1	VW	344,194	361,659	18.6	-4.8
2	Mercedes	161,178	162,614	8.7	-0.9
3	Audi	148,538	151,353	8.0	-1.9
4	Ford	143,354	135,681	7.8	5.7
5	BMW	139,826	130,132	7.6	7.4
6	Opel	117,425	118,526	6.4	-0.9
7	Skoda	107,386	106,802	5.8	0.5
8	Renault	68,714	68,691	3.7	0.0
9	Seat	68,202	61,461	3.7	11.0
10	Hyundai	62,095	58,982	3.4	5.3
11	Fiat	49,426	46,493	2.7	6.3
12	Toyota	44,416	44,701	2.4	-0.6
13	Dacia	40,838	39,193	2.2	4.2
14	Peugeot	38,197	36,763	2.1	3.9
15	Mazda	35,405	33,972	1.9	4.2
16	Kia	34,892	33,770	1.9	3.3
17	Citroen	32,550	28,819	1.8	12.9
18	Mitsubishi	28,319	25,293	1.5	12.0
19	Volvo	26,521	19,948	1.4	33.0
20	Smart	23,567	20,500	1.3	15.0
21	Mini	23,465	25,465	1.3	-7.9
22	Nissan	20,283	30,222	1.1	-32.9
23	Suzuki	19,782	18,862	1.1	4.9
24	Porsche	14,111	17,992	0.8	-21.6
25	Land Rover	9,373	10,594	0.5	-11.5
26	Jeep	8,325	8,306	0.5	0.2
27	Honda	7,915	12,228	0.4	-35.3
28	Tesla	6,209	1,254	0.3	395.1
29	Jaguar	4,608	5,061	0.2	-9.0
30	Subaru	3,136	3,714	0.2	-15.6
31	Alfa Romeo	2,023	3,296	0.1	-38.6
32	Lexus	1,869	1,416	0.1	32.0
33	DS	1,477	2,208	0.1	-33.1
34	Ssangyong	1,224	1,348	0.1	-9.2
	Others	10,157	11,712	0.5
	Source: KBA

Top-Selling Car Brands in Germany in 2019 (First Half)

Volkswagen followed by Mercedes-Benz is the normal order of the top German car manufacturers but during the first half of 2019 not only the top two but the top 16 best-selling car manufacturers were in the same rank position as during the first semester of 2018.

Volkswagen sales in Germany slipped by nearly 5% during the first half of 2019 with market share down by nearly 1%. VW was the worst-performing top 20 car brand in Germany during the first six months of 2019.

Mercedes-Benz and Audi also had moderately weaker sales in Germany at the start of 2019 while Ford and BMW both had strong sales increases. Opel sales were moderately weaker but should be helped during the second half of the year by the launch of the new Corsa model.

The rest of the top 20 best-selling car brands in Germany in 2019 had stronger sales with the exception of Toyota that had sales only 0.6% weaker than during the first half of 2018. VW-owned Skoda remained the top imported car brand in Germany with Renault the best-selling foreign brand without any German ownership or historical connection.

VW-owned Seat was the best-performing top 10 brand in Germany thus far in 2019.

Citroen and Mitsubishi improved their rank positions from a year ago while Volvo and Smart entered the top 20 list at the expense of Mini and Nissan.

The top performing brands in Germany during the first half of 2019 were Tesla (+395%), Volvo (+33%) and Lexus (+32%).

The worst performing brand in Germany during the first semester of 2019 were Alfa Romeo, Honda, DS and Nissan – all lost over 30% in sales. Porsche was the worst performing German car brand with sales down by more than a fifth.

The VW Golf easily maintained its position as Germany’s favorite car model during the first half of 2019.